Investigation into fatal fire puts the heat on Sunset station

Fred Polizzi holds a crate of milk for a food giveaway in front of his old liquor store on Sixth Street on Dec. 17, 1980. Chronicle file photo, 1980 by Peter Breinig

Fred Polizzi holds a crate of milk for a food giveaway in front of his old liquor store on Sixth Street on Dec. 17, 1980. Chronicle file photo, 1980 by Peter Breinig

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Fred Polizzi holds a crate of milk for a food giveaway in front of his old liquor store on Sixth Street on Dec. 17, 1980. Chronicle file photo, 1980 by Peter Breinig

Fred Polizzi holds a crate of milk for a food giveaway in front of his old liquor store on Sixth Street on Dec. 17, 1980. Chronicle file photo, 1980 by Peter Breinig

Investigation into fatal fire puts the heat on Sunset station

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Here's a look at the Bay Area's past. Items have been culled from The Chronicle's archives of 25, 50 and 75 years ago:

1980

Dec. 16: The San Francisco Fire Department is investigating charges that four firefighters locked up Engine Company 22's firehouse in the Sunset District and went to a four-hour abalone dinner the night a woman burned to death in an apartment fire half a block from their station. Their absence delayed response to the fire by three to 10 minutes.

-- Convicted assassin Dan White and his wife, Mary Ann, reportedly are expecting a baby, the product of conjugal visits at Soledad Prison where White is serving a seven-year, eight-month sentence for manslaughter in the deaths of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.

Dec. 17: The Muni Metro expands its service so that passengers on the L-Taraval and M-Ocean View lines will be able to get a direct ride to downtown San Francisco on the Market Street subway for the first time. The new service eliminates a time-consuming transfer from the old streetcars to the subway at West Portal.

-- For 26 years Fred Polizzi ran Fred's Liquor Store at 143 Sixth St. and every year he handed out free lunches to local residents before Christmas. Polizzi moved his business to Marin County five years ago and stopped handing out the food, but he says his conscience nagged him and he decided to return to San Francisco to hand out lunches outside his old store.

-- The Oakland City Council has ordered the mayor and city attorney to look into ways to remedy the "very insulting" image presented Dec. 9 on the new ABC show "Too Close for Comfort," starring Ted Knight. The show portrayed two teenagers moving from their family's house in San Francisco into a crime-ridden apartment building in Oakland.

-- City officials rededicate Annie Street in honor of jazz musicians Lu Watters and Turk Murphy, the Dawn Club and pioneer Annie Russ. The one-block street had been renamed Mark Twain Lane. Officials decided to restore the earlier name after 5,000 jazz fans from throughout the world signed a petition.

Dec 18: San Francisco retailers are hoping for a last-minute spending spree that could spell the difference between a flat holiday season and a bad one. Sales are up from 1979, but much of the increase is due to inflation rather than to more purchases.

Dec. 19: President Jimmy Carter signs legislation to protect Lake Tahoe by strengthening the bistate Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The measure bans new casinos and hotels and restricts the expansion of existing ones.

Dec. 21: A deadly red tide has given Northern California one of its worst seasons of paralytic shellfish poisoning in years. Two people have died and many others have become sick after eating mussels gathered on beaches along the coast north of San Francisco.

-- The Oakland Raiders defeat the New York Giants 33-17, assuring the Raiders a berth in the AFC playoffs.

-- The California Supreme Court rules that a father has no automatic right to give his child his last name, overturning hundreds of years of common law going back to King Henry VIII of England. The 5-2 decision reverses a trial court ruling that Patricia Herdman had no right to give her child her maiden name after she was divorced.

1955

Dec. 16: Local liquor law administrator Frank Fullenwider accuses Sally Stanford of substituting cheaper liquor in expensive liquor bottles at her Valhalla Inn in Sausalito. Stanford contends she is being persecuted.

-- University of San Francisco's National Collegiate champion Dons charge from behind to defeat Marquette 65-58 for the team's 30th straight basketball victory. The Dons advance to play DePaul for the title in the DePaul Invitational tournament in Chicago Stadium.

Dec. 17: Two veteran riggers, Rolf Sollie and Chandler Raymond, climb 162 feet to the truck of the Balclutha's mainmast to secure a Christmas tree there in a traditional observance of deep-sea ships.

-- The University of San Francisco's unbeaten basketball team defeats DePaul 82-59 to capture the DePaul Invitational tournament. The Dons are ranked as the nation's top team for the season.

Dec. 18: A howling storm buffets Northern California's coast, causing extensive wind damage in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties. Wind blows the 70-foot roof off a 10-unit building in the Crocker-Amazon housing project, forcing occupants to flee the building.

-- Despite a strong wind that whipped incoming waves to a white froth, members of the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club made their annual midwinter hike from the clubhouse to the beach for a dip in the Pacific Ocean.

Dec. 20: Chief Eagle Wing and his son, Red Turtle, appear at the Sheraton Palace Hotel to promote the opening of the movie, "The Indian Fighter." Chief Eagle Wing, also known as Grover Cleveland Sanderson, lives part time in San Francisco and part time in Humboldt County. His son, also known as Jack Richard Sanderson, lives in San Francisco. The two men work as consultants to researchers and filmmakers.

-- USF basketball coach Phil Woolpert expresses concern over the Dons' scheduled game against Loyola of the South in New Orleans following an incident involving a black player in Loyola's game with Bradley. Loyola fans loudly booed a black player and the band started playing Dixie. Woolpert says he will investigate the incident and then will consider whether to cancel the game.

1930

Dec. 17: San Francisco attorneys are considering testing the Volstead Act in California after federal Judge William Clark of New Jersey ruled that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was not properly ratified. Prohibition enforcement officials have said Clark's ruling will have no effect on the activities of their department.

-- Former San Franciscan Dorothy Lenroot Bromberg is named an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the southern district at Los Angeles. Bromberg is the first woman to hold such a position in the district.

-- University of California officials are planning to concentrate all medical school activities at the campus on Parnassus Avenue in San Francisco. If the expansion program goes through, the four-year medical program will be taught in San Francisco completely for the first time since 1906.

Dec. 19: With a combined 1931 construction program totaling $120 million, the large utility corporations on the Pacific Coast are leading the way to economic recovery and stemming the tide of unemployment.

-- Thousands of people in Union Square could imagine themselves in Naples at carnival time as it was "Italian night" on the platform beneath the giant Christmas tree at the 1930 yuletide fete.

Dec. 22: The Board of Supervisors votes 14-2 to elect Angelo Rossi as San Francisco's new mayor to succeed Gov.-elect James Rolph on Jan. 6, 1931. It is the fourth time in the city's history that a mayor has been selected in this way. Supervisors James McSheehy and Franck Havenner object to the election of Rossi.